


Pour Another (For Those We've Lost & All We've Gained)

by PennamePersona



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Avi's Past, Gen, He's nice and does his goddamn best and it Shows, Math Savvy Avi, Mostly introspection, People like Avi, Smart Avi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-14
Updated: 2017-08-14
Packaged: 2018-12-15 08:16:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11802066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PennamePersona/pseuds/PennamePersona
Summary: Avi might be known, part, for being "The Alcohol Guy," but there's more to that than meets the eye.





	Pour Another (For Those We've Lost & All We've Gained)

**Author's Note:**

> So I read [these](http://skippyin.tumblr.com/post/163576160741/my-personal-headcanons-for-avi-because-why-not) headcanons and then suddenly I was writing an Avi-centric introspection fic?

"Come on, then, into the cannonball," Avi says, cheerfully. "Promise I won't launch you into the sun."

 

The new Seekers look terrified, still, and Avi does consider giving them a nip of what's in his flask, but that doesn't seem like the right courses of action for this group.

 

"I'm actually quite good at math," Avi says. "Or I wouldn't have this job. Requires all kinds of pinpoint calculations to launch these right, and I'm the right man for the job, or so the Director says. And we all trust the Director, right?"

 

Two of the timid Seekers nod, and the third actually manages to speak.

 

"Are you sure?" They say, seeming skeptical. "I mean, of course I trust the director, but you're kind of known for things that really aren't math."

 

"Sure am," Avi says easily. "Training a lot, for sure, body and mind both gotta be strong, especially in this line of work. And you're also probably referencing the alcohol, to which I say this: I can get blackout drunk, wake up next to a board full of computations, and check them all over only to find they're correct. So even if I were drunk, which I am not, you'd still be in safe hands."

 

The less-timid Seeker nods, satisfied enough that they aren't going to make more fuss. All three newbies pile into the ball, strap in, and then they're in the cannon and Avi is launching them with enough of an arc that even they don't pull the lever until the last possible second, they'll still be very close to their intended destination.

 

And then they're off, and Avi's job is done for the day. He sighs, and leans against a wall, fingering his flask. He doesn't really want to drink, not now, not at all, but he hasn't yet figured out a way to be rid of the habit. It's rarely a problem, but bringing up the whole "blackout drunk and board full of equations" thing gives him a tinge of nausea. He's only been blackout drunk once, but that was one time too many.

 

Avi's family owned a pub, most popular one in town, and for good reason. He was raised by incredibly amicable people, the sort that gave bartenders the reputation of being good listeners. He'd been surrounded by alcohol for most of his life before setting out on his own.

 

The thing about alcohol, Avi thinks, not for the first time, is that it brings people together. It lowers inhibitions, gives people the excuses they need to talk, and though sometimes it brings out anger and violence, that sort of thing was never tolerated in Avi's family's pub, though, so while young Avi was warned of the negative effects that alcohol could bring, he rarely saw them.

 

The other thing about alcohol, Avi learned, after he set out to try adventuring, supported by his family and most of the town, is that it's incredibly flammable.

 

Something Avi's learned about people that, frankly, exhausts him, makes him wish he didn't know it down to his bones, down to his family's ashes: People don't like being told no.

 

Avi's family had told plenty of people no, had escorted the angry drunks, the violent ones, the people who would upset the routine which his family had tried so hard to instate, directly out of the pub and told them they were not welcome back with that sort of behavior.

 

Alcohol can bring people together, Avi knows. It can also make them irrational, tear them apart, tear apart more than just them.

 

Avi doesn't regret leaving home, not when he's sober. And Avi, despite being the guy who carries alcohol around with him at all times, despite having garnered the reputation of Most Adept Drink Mixer in the B.o.B., never gets more than tipsy. 

 

He sighs, heavily, once more, then pushes himself off the wall, just in time to see the doors opening for a return ball. It must be Killian, back from Regulation duties with Magic Brian. Such a shame, he thinks. Brian had always seemed like a pretty cool dude, but a thrall is a thrall, Avi supposes.

 

The ball opens, and Killian does come out, but so do three others, holding the - holy shit, holding the Phoenix Fire Gauntlet. Holy fuck. 

 

Just who are these guys?

 

* * *

 

Those guys, Avi learns, are their saviors. Those guys, Avi learns even later, have been their saviors for a century. 

 

It's crazy to high five Magnus Burnsides for the hundredth time, just after saving his ass from the weirdest wolf Avi's ever seen, and know that the dork who had become his semi-frequent sparring partner was not only an alien, but one of the bravest people Avi will ever meet.

 

It's crazy, but it's also amazing.

 

They've lost people, today, Avi knows. They're going to keep losing people until this thing is over, and then, because it's how life works, they're still going to lose people. That's the deal, and for the first time in quite a while, it doesn't sound so bad to Avi. After all, if these guys dealt with it for a century, whose is he, a mere mortal, to argue?

 

* * *

 

It's Magnus who suggests it, and doesn't it seem right for it so have been Magnus? Avi respects and appreciates all of the IPRE crew for what they did, but Magnus is the one he understands best, finds the most connection to, and besides, Magnus was always the person he was closest to out of the Reclaimers.

 

Regardless, it's after the B.o.B. is dissolved, and Magnus turns to Avi and says, "So, what are you going to do now? Open a bar and offer a nip to each newcomer?"

 

Avi laughs, but then it's a year later, and he owns a bar, offers a taste test to the newcomers, just so they get what's best for their pallet, because Avi was raised by professionals. His purpose in life after he discovered his family's death is gone, dissolved, all a lie to begin with, but it's not so bad.

 

After all, he runs the favored bar of the people who saved the world during the Day of Story and Song, and that's worth something. 

 

Avi remembers the last time he got drunk, and it wasn't when he woke up afterwards to a board of calculations on how to prevent fires in a building just like this, how to build a place that would never catch fire and kill everyone inside.

 

The last time Avi got drunk, it was with friends, an accident spurred on by him mixing drink after drink in small amounts, for them to taste test, and eventually trying them himself, the alcohol piling on after awhile. 

 

When he woke up the next day, it was to a large jacket draped over him and a note on the table thanking him for a good night, one worth remembering.

 

So tonight, while he's cleaning glasses and watching his customers, regulars, and friends laugh, Avi smiles and feels, very consciously and very wonderfully, whole.

**Author's Note:**

> Love comments and kudos!
> 
> [my tumblr](http://www.pennamepersona.tumblr.com)


End file.
